File:Thomas Class A Type 1 Anglo-Saxon Strap End (FindID 243671).jpg

English: A complete copper alloy Anglo-Saxon strap end of Thomas Class A, Type 1 dating to the c.9th century AD. It is sub oval in shape with convex sides and tapers to a zoomorphic terminal, which is triangular in plan and decorated with stylised incised semi-circular eyes and projecting oval shaped knops for the snout. At the top of the terminal is a transverse incised groove above which are two rectangular ears with moulded semi-circular recesses. The front face of the strap end has horizontal grooves at either edge that extend from the zoomorphic terminal and form longitudinal borders with incised pellet decoration. Within the borders is a central decorative panel that is rectangular in shape and contains chip carved decoration in Trewhiddle style depicting an unknown scene, perhaps a creature or beast of some kind. There is a similar triangular decorative panel on the top of the terminal. A simple incised semi-circle with vertical lines, perhaps a fan-shaped motif, is visible between the central panel and the split attachment end. The attachment end itself has two cylindrical iron rivets that pierce both top and bottom plates and have resulted in extensive iron corrosion around the top of the strap end. The reverse face of the strap end is flat and undecorated.

The entire object measures 36.92mm in length, 10.84mm in width, 4.29mm in thickness (at attachment end), and weighs 4.80g.

This object is an Anglo-Saxon strap end and falls into Thomas' Class A. It can further be defined as a Type 1 strap end due to the presence of the split attachment end, the oval shaped plate, the zoomorphic terminal and the decorative panels containing Trewhiddle style decoration - so-named after a hoard of finds from Trewhiddle in Cornwall dated to c.875 AD that serve as chronological and typological markers (see Thomas, 2003: p. 2, fig. 1.1; Wilson, 1964: 21-35). It would have served a dual function of protecting and weighing down the end of straps and dates to the 9th century AD (Thomas, 2003; West, 1998: 17, 38).

This strap end, along with a second example (SF-E276E5), was recorded in the Suffolk SMR in 1983 but was erroneously placed in the SMR and in West's corpus of Anglo-Saxon finds within both the parish of Buxhall (BUX Misc; West, 1998: 17, fig. 16.2-3) and Great Finborough (FNG 007; West, 1998: 38). The original drawings published by West are located under the parish of Buxhall, while the findspot data and original photographs place it in Great Finborough. Both are mentioned in the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History, 1984: p. 322.